Cookies and a Place to Call Home
by pvoberstein
Summary: After some time away, Weiss drops in on newlyweds Pyrrha Nikos and Ruby Rose. It's definitely not what she expected, but somehow perfect all the same. The love and WAFFyness of Milk and Cereal (aka Pyrruby), as seen by Weiss.


The house Ruby and Pyrrha shared could hardly have been less distinct. It was an unassuming two-story building, painted in the same generic colors as every other house on the street, located towards the outskirts of Vale where land was a lot cheaper and yards a lot bigger. Weiss wasn't entirely sure what she'd expected, but surely any domicile containing Ruby should've looked…. _weirder_. Within their first week at Beacon a young Ruby Rose had created two bunk beds/death traps, and things had only gotten stranger after that.

 _Surely_ it couldn't be the same girl living in a nice house in a quiet neighborhood where the grass was neatly trimmed and the picket fence had a fresh coat of paint. There should've been… craters, or bullet holes, or a thirty-foot flagpole flying Ruby's personal insignia atop it. Something. _Anything_.

It was a surprise, and as her Sweet Sixteen had proven beyond any possible doubt, Weiss Schnee did _not_ like surprises.

She unhitched the gate in the fence and stepped in, swinging the gate shut behind her, the metallic _click_ of the latch loud as a gunshot to her ears.

 _Why did that feel so menacing?_

She followed a short footpath to the house's front door, wishing she hadn't left Myrtenaster back in car, as absurd a thought as that was. Her unease grew with each step. The worst thing was that she couldn't even complain that she hadn't been warned.

 _"It's just… a little_ odd _," explained Blake, glancing sideways at Weiss as she drove her friend from the airport. The way Blake withheld information was tantalizing and infuriating, but she wasn't doing it to annoy Weiss. She just had no real way of describing her memories in words. After thirty minutes of fruitless interrogation the heiress was forced to abandon the effort, though her mind was afire with curiosity._

Weiss extended one long, elegant finger, it's manicured tip floating a fraction of an inch away from the doorbell. At the last minute she almost chickened out, almost convinced herself that this _must_ be the wrong address, that she should just leave - maybe drop her old partner a voicemail? - and speed off back to-

Weiss jabbed the doorbell before the rest of her brain could catch up with her.

It was a two-tone electronic chime that she heard ringing out, not an explosion, but she flinched a little all the same.

 _"It's… definitely not where I thought lil' sis would end up," mused Yang, casually sipping from a bottle of beer. Weiss held her own by the neck, absent-mindedly twisting it back and forth. "I mean, judge not lest ye be judged, right? Or different strokes for different folks? One of those sayings." Yang took another swig, staring distantly into the sun. It was just her and Weiss on the apartment's balcony - Blake was stealing a cat-nap on the couch - overlooking the Port of Vale. It wouldn't have been Weiss' first choice of domicile by any stretch of the imagination - the district was too seedy, the streets too loud, the neighbors too sketchy - but she had to admit that for Blake and Yang it was the perfect fit. It made_ sense _._

One heartbeat. Two. Three.

' _They're probably not home_ ,' Weiss thought, preparing to spin on her heel. But then she heard a muffled voice calling out, the distant patter of feet, saw through the window a blurry form growing larger and larger. The bolt of the lock was slid back with a loud _clung_. Weiss' hand drifted unthinkingly to her left hip, where Myrtenaster _still_ wasn't. ' _Why did I even leave it? It's not like Ruby would care. Would she?_ '

The knob twisted. Weiss took a half-step back, as if positioning for a fight. She straightened her back. Tensed her muscles. Held her breath.

The door was pulled open. For a few brief seconds Weiss' brain stopped working entirely, lobotomized by the sight before her eyes.

"Weiss!" She knew who the voice belonged to, of course, who it _had_ to be long to. It was a familiar voice, a voice that was warm and welcoming and reassuring and-

"Pyrrha?"

If Weiss was being generous to herself, she'd have said she sounded unusually surprised, perhaps a little too flustered. If she was being _honest_ with herself, she'd have said her voice had jumped into a barely-articulate _squeak_ that sounded like someone stepping on one of Zwei's toys.

In Weiss' defense, it wasn't exactly like she'd ever seen Pyrrha Nikos this way before.

Pyrrha had towered over Weiss when they were in Beacon and in the intervening years she hadn't lost any of her advantage. Her eyes still glistened like brilliant emeralds, her hair was still a fiery mane. Apart from that…

Pyrrha Nikos - warrior, champion, hero, quite arguably the most celebrated student ever to graduate Beacon Academy, _unquestionably_ one of the most successful Huntresses in living memory - was standing before her wearing the _cutest_ maid's dress Weiss had ever seen. The fabric was dark red rather then the traditional black, short-sleeved and puffy-shouldered. A white apron, knotted in an elegant bow behind her back, covered most of the front of the dress, with a bright red bow near her collar. The skirt was neither immodestly short nor puritanically long, the white trim of a petticoat peaking out from beneath.

It was, to Weiss Schnee, more than a little stupefying.

"Hello again!" said Pyrrha with a wave, either ignorant of or too polite to point out Weiss' state of shock. Probably the latter. "Please, come in."

Her higher-level reasoning faculties gradually returning to her, Weiss wordlessly accepted the invitation, crossing the threshold with such tentativeness it was as if she expected to catch on a tripwire. Pyrrha closed the door behind her and proceeded to buzz about the house, _humming_ mirthfully.

"If you could please leave your shoes by the door, I just finished sweeping," called out Pyrrha, eyes apparently in the back of her head as she darted towards the kitchen. Weiss sheepishly complied, sliding out of her boots and placing them in a nearby closet. She used the excuse to perform a little reconnaissance. There were a few pairs of shoes, a few boots, the articles clearly sized for two occupants of wildly different heights. She recognized one of the old coats, but that was it.

"Is Ruby here?" Weiss asked, realizing only belatedly that that may have been a little rude to her present host.

"No, but she should be home any minute now," replied Pyrrha, still fluttering about the kitchen. "She got back from her mission this morning, but apparently the debriefing is taking longer than normal." If Pyrrha felt at all slighted there was no trace of it in her voice or expression, but Weiss knew that she had always been an expert at putting on a happy face.

"I can always come back in a bit," called out Weiss, still standing a stride away from the door. "There are a few errands I could do, check back in a couple of hours. I don't want to be a burden"

"Please, Weiss, don't be silly," chided Pyrrha, returning from the kitchen. "I haven't seen you in gods-know-how-long. Come, take a seat, I'll get you something to drink. Would you like some tea or coffee?"

"Coffee, please," said Weiss, figuring she'd need to be as alert as possible.

"Black, right?"

"Yes…..?" Weiss called back, trying to remember if Pyrrha had ever made her coffee before. She didn't think so.

"Ruby told me," called out Pyrrha in response to her unasked question, raising her voice to be heard over the grinding of the coffee machine.

"Did she?" replied Weiss, as the machine _whirred_ to a stop.

"Mm-hm," answered Pyrrha a few moments later, returning from the kitchen, a porcelain cup steaming in either hand. She handed Weiss the darker of the two, the heiress wordlessly accepting it. "She talks about you a lot, you know."

"Hopefully just the good things," said Weiss. She tried to make it sound like a casual joke, but the nervousness was evident in her voice. Weiss knew she hadn't always been the nicest to Ruby, and while her partner had learned to take that in good spirits, it still gnawed at Weiss in the quiet hours of the night.

"She misses you," said Pyrrha softly, before taking a small sip of her still-steaming drink. If she felt at all jealous, she hid it _very_ well. "You wouldn't _believe_ the way her eyes light up when someone gets her going about her days at Beacon. I even had to talk her out of getting bunk beds for this place."

Pyrrha made a small wave with her free hand, calling Weiss' attention to the room they were in. Everything was clean, the colors chosen with evident care, furniture and decoration arranged with love. Apart from the unusual number of weapons engineering manuals on the bookshelf, the only thing that seemed remotely out of place was the giant tusk mounted above the mantelpiece.

"From one of our most recent missions," said Pyrrha with a small, prideful grin, spotting Weiss' gaze. "Search-and-rescue for some rather foolish archaeologists in southern Vale. Ruby and I came across a Goliath that had been separated from its pack. With the weapons we had available we couldn't actually _slay_ it, though I managed to slice off one of its tusks. Ruby wanted it as a trophy, thought it nice to have a real part of a Grimm rather than the taxidermies we normally make due with."

"So you're still maintaining an Active status as a Huntress?" Weiss asked, unable to keep the surprise from her voice.

"Of course," said Pyrrha, nursing another sip. "Weiss, I'm not retired," she continued, sounding just a little befuddled. "Ruby and I take more assignments in a month than most Huntresses do in three." Even if her celebrity had faded somewhat now that she'd ended her tournament career, Pyrrha was still one of the best-known Huntresses in all of Remnant. That Weiss had lost track of who was doing what…

"I knew that, I'm sorry," said Weiss with a small groan, taking another gulp of coffee in the hopes of clearing the confusion from her mind. The taste was bitter on her tongue, but that was how she'd always had it. "It's just…. I never imagined the two of you having something so… _domestic_."

 _"You know as well as anyone that Pyrrha was never entirely comfortable with the life she was living," said Ren, as he deliberately carved his pancake with a fork and knife, in sharp contrast to the redhead practically inhaling one beside him. "Back then she was more famous than you are_ now, _don't forget. It doesn't surprise me that she wanted to change that a little after graduation." He made a small gesture of helplessness with his hands. "I can't say that I saw things unfolding_ quite _like this, but then I don't think anyone did."_

Pyrrha shrugged. If she took Weiss' words as a criticism she was completely indifferent to it. "We all need somewhere to call home, Weiss," she said, between sips. Weiss only belatedly realized that the coffee was from the Chavái Islands of Mistral, where the mineral-rich volcanic soil lead to growing conditions unlike anywhere else in Remnant. Pyrrha had family there.

"And _this?_ " asked Weiss, gesturing broadly, almost knocking over her coffee as she did so. For some reason she felt a spike of irritation in her, her annoyance at her own confusion spilling over into her conversation. "You're Pyrrha _freaking_ Nikos! The tournament records you set are _still_ unbroken! There are only a handful of Huntresses in history with a higher Grimm kill count than you, and _two_ of them used to be on my team! What's with the quiet house in the nice neighborhood, the cooking, the cleaning, the cute-little-housewife act?"

There was a brief pause. Pyrrha seemed to be choosing her next words carefully, as if she was assessing an opponent in the ring. Her eyes bore into Weiss', unflinchingly.

"Ruby needs it," said Pyrrha, her words gently-spoken but cutting like a knife. "You know how tumultuous her youth was, how much uncertainty and instability have shaped her life. How important family is to her. You know how much danger she puts herself in on a _weekly_ basis. I love her, Weiss, and if there is anything I can do to make her feel like she has somewhere safe she can always return to, I'll do it."

Weiss was silent for some time, the mug growing cooler in her hands. Vague, blurry memories of their time at Beacon floated in and out of her mind. After everything she'd been through, everything she was _still going_ through, there was no denying that Ruby Rose deserved a feeling of belonging more than anyone.

"And the maid outfit?" asked Weiss, finally, arching one eyebrow as she did.

Pyrrha blushed a little, the first sign of acknowledgement that the situation was maybe just a _little_ odd. "Ruby likes it," she finally got out, a little sheepishly. "You can make her happy with the smallest things, you know. I think she came up for the design of this after she saw me in an apron one time."

"That explains the color scheme," replied Weiss dryly.

The opportunity for further conversation was terminated by two loud pounds on the door.

"Open up, Nikos!" cried the voice, still instantly recognizable. "I come bearing glory and groceries!"

Pyrrha didn't even glance in Weiss's direction as she practically leapt to her feet, crossing the distance to the door in a few long strides. Weiss too stood up a moment later, resting one hand uncertainly on an armrest as the door was flung open.

" _Wiiiiife!_!" cried out Ruby, or something along those lines - Weiss' auditory range didn't really go that high. In a blur of motion she threw herself into Pyrrha, picking up the warrior and spinning her through the first floor of the house.

"Ruby!" said Pyrrha, when the two Huntresses finally came to a rest, wearing the most joyous smile Weiss had ever seen on a human. "What did I say about using your Semblance in the house?" Her words were scolding, and about as effective as chastising a puppy while rubbing her head. Which Pyrrha was _also_ doing to Ruby, fingers running through short-cropped hair. "Who's going to have to clean that up?"

"Sorry," Ruby mumbled, though even to Weiss it was clear that this was a conversation they'd had many times before, a ritual that only they could partake in. Ruby looked over to shoulder to see how many petals her Semblance had scattered in her wake. It was only then that she noticed that a few of those petals had settled on a woman in white. " _Weiss_!"

"Hello, Ruby," Weiss called out from across the room, suddenly feeling like an unwanted interloper. "How have you-"

Ruby gave her no time to finish her sentence, closing the distance between them in a red blur and enveloping Weiss in a bone-crushing hug. Over Ruby's shoulder Weiss spotted Pyrrha letting out a playful sigh as still more petals drifted to the just-swept floor. Then Ruby took a half-step back, still holding Weiss by the arms and staring into her with those beautiful silver eyes.

"I had no idea you were coming!" she said, her face looking like Dustmas came early. "When did you get in?"

"Late last night, or rather, very early this morning," said Weiss, now that she could breathe again. "Blake picked me up this morning, and I crashed at her and Yang's place."

"No company jet this time?" asked Ruby, teasingly.

"As far as anyone at the SDC knows, I'm at a two-day 'networking retreat' in Vacuo," said Weiss with a wry grin.

"We've missed you, Weiss," said Ruby, offering another hug, though far gentler. Weiss could actually hug Ruby back this time.

"I know," murmured Weiss. "I'm sorry I missed the wedding. It looked beautiful."

"It was," agreed Ruby, a dreamy look in her eyes. She shook her head. "But we know you were doing, like, _super_ -important stuff at work. Blake even said if she has a kid she's going to name it after you."

"Did she now?" mused Weiss with a mischievous grin, Ruby having unwittingly supplied her with invaluable ammunition for teasing.

Weiss picked up her cup of coffee again, taking another long sip before it became too cold for consumption. "So, um, you caught up with Pyrrha?" asked Ruby, catching the glance her wife had just exchanged with Weiss.

"Not as much as I'd like to," replied Weiss between sips.

"Wait, Pyrrha made coffee? You never make coffee!" said Ruby, indignation in her voice.

"Weiss is a guest," noted Pyrrha, "and you're energetic enough already. And besides, you can't afford to grow dependent on it, with all the time you spend in the field."

"Why do you even have a four-thousand lien coffeemaker then?" asked Weiss with genuine curiosity, eyeing the elegantly-crafted piece of machinery on the kitchen counter.

Ruby and Pyrrha both looked at her quizzically. "It was a gift from the designer. Pyrrha did, like, a _thousand_ commercials for them, Weiss," said Ruby, as if Weiss was asking her what an Aura was. "Come on, remember they used the Achieve Men's _Caffeine_ song? _I'm a cheetah on the plains, I'm the highway star / A supersonic princess in a million dollar car / Blood on fire pumping through my veins / Weaving in and out while I'm bolting through the lanes._ "

Ruby and Pyrrha both looked at her expectantly as Ruby raced through the lyrics. Seeing the complete absence of recognition still on her face, Ruby sighed. "Wow, I didn't realize you were _that_ busy. You've missed a lot."

"Tell me about it," replied Weiss, the layered meaning to Ruby's words hitting her hard. She slumped in her chair. "So you're still doing commercials, Pyrrha? I'd have thought that ended when you no longer needed tournament sponsors."

"Yes, but… well…"

"Pyrrha makes more doing two commercials a month than we make as Huntresses in an entire year. Combined." _Ah, right, money. You know, what_ normal _people have to worry about._ "But the point is, we have the greatest coffeemaker humanity's ever invented and Pyrrha won't let me touch it."

"Nope," agreed Pyrrha, smiling, "but I do have something that I think can make up for it."

"Sure, you'll make Weiss coffee, because I guess _she's_ special enough to get _ohmygodschocolatechipcookies_!"

Ruby became a whirlwind again as Pyrrha slid a tray of cookies out of the oven, using her Polarity to avoid touching the heated metal.

That was when Weiss saw it. The look of love across Pyrrha's face as Ruby's lit up with excitement. There was a warmth, Weiss knew, a heat you felt only when feeling the happiness of another soul. A happiness that comes from seeing the person you love made happy. Sometimes it took big things, gaudy jewelry or declaration of undying love. Sometimes all it took was a plate of cookies.

"I guess you really _do_ love me," said Ruby teasingly, somehow managing to articulate her words despite the two cookies in her mouth.

"Oh no, you discovered my secret," replied Pyrrha in turn, planting a series of gentle kisses along Ruby's head. A last-minute growth spurt had closed the gap between Pyrrha and Ruby a little, but it was still enough to raise eyebrows. Weiss', specifically.

"Okay, go change out of those field clothes before you make any more of a mess," said Pyrrha. Ruby made some vague noise of agreement, then hurried up to her bedroom as fast as her non-Semblance-d legs could carry her.

The room was silent for several seconds, apart from the muffled sound of Ruby's footsteps from the floorboards above them. Pyrrha felt a wave of awkwardness rush over her, aware of the oddity of having an outsider in their private space.

"Ruby's very lucky to have someone like you to come home to," said Weiss softly. She couldn't keep every note of bitterness out of her voice, however, and Pyrrha spotted the fingernails digging into arm.

"Weiss…. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable," said Pyrrha, the uncertainty plain in her voice. "I'm sor-"

Weiss cut her off with a wave of her hand. "Don't be ridiculous, Pyrrha," said Weiss. Her voice was cold, but everyone who knew Weiss learned to deal with that sooner or later. "I really am happy for you, for your love." And that _was_ the truth, even if it was not quite the _whole_ truth.

"Thank you. I think," said Pyrrha. She'd barely spoken to Weiss since she and Ruby had gotten engaged, but it still felt nice to have the approval of the woman who had been Ruby's partner (not _that_ way) for four years.

The patter of Ruby's footsteps prevented the silence from growing too large. The Huntress reemerged with a bundle of clothes in her arms, wearing only her pajamas. They were the same pajamas Weiss had bought her in their forth year at Beacon, when a combination of growth spurts and spin cycles had finally defeated her old nightwear. She still looked far cuter in them than Weiss had ever admitted aloud. She idly wondered if Pyrrha fully appreciated the cuteness.

"Let me take those," said Pyrrha, grabbing the clothes from Ruby's arms. "I'm going to get started on some laundry, so you'll actually have something to wear for the awards ceremony."

As the clothes passed hands Pyrrha bent down and Ruby craned up, their lips meeting right around the middle. Pyrrha had that impossibly warm smile on her face, Ruby that impossibly sweet grin. Weiss sipped her coffee, the liquid cold and bitter.

With a shimmer of her Semblance Pyrrha pushed the door to the basement open, then shut behind her, a noisy _creak_ greeting her on every step down. Ruby went over to the fridge and poured herself a glass of chocolate milk, before taking a seat next to Weiss.

"Sorry, didn't mean to get all public-display-of-affection on you," said Ruby with a small grin.

"This is your house Ruby, you do what you want in it," replied Weiss. "Though I still can't believe this actually _is_ your house."

"What were you expecting me to live in, a four-storey treehouse or something?" asked Ruby. Her playful grin faded a little when she saw the ' _actually yes_ ' expression on Weiss' face. "Come on, Weiss, I said that jokingly like _one_ time. I mean yeah a giant treehouse would be cool, and we'd never had to worry about flood damage, but really?"

"In my defense," answered Weiss evenly, "Ren and Nora _do_ live in a castle now."

" _Technically_ it's a 'Nationally Registered Historic Home'," replied Ruby, though from Weiss' expression she knew that that was exactly not a winning argument.

"I'm sorry, Ruby," said Weiss, after a small pause. "It's immature of me to think that you'd never be able to… or _want_ to… own a normal house. Or have a normal, domestic life."

Ruby shrugged. "Pyrrha needs it," she said, taking a sagely sip of her chocolate milk.

"Pyrrha?"

"Yeah," repeated Ruby. "Come on, Weiss, you knew how hard it was for her to be The Invincible Girl all those years. How she always had to win every tournament, have perfect grades. Did you know that some of her sponsorships required her to, _ahem_ , 'remain virtuous at all times'?" A rare scowl crossed Ruby's brow. "I mean, _jeez_ , if most of us got caught kissing boys or girls it just meant an awkward conversation with the parents. If Pyrrha had gotten caught she would have lost sponsors, and then made the news. By then her career would probably be over."

"I remember," said Weiss, a little defensively, although she knew that that was only a half-truth. She'd always known _intellectually_ how stressful Pyrrha's life must have been at Beacon, the weight of the reputation she was expected to uphold, the perfection it demanded of her. But it was an abstract knowledge, like an old history textbook about people you didn't care about. As the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company she'd receive a fair share of scrutiny herself, but at the end of the day only her Father's opinion of her mattered. Pyrrha was shaped and scrutinized by PR gurus looking for the perfect mascot. And at the end of the day, Weiss was allowed to get mad. Pyrrha was not.

Ruby shrugged and returned to her cookies, though she seemed a little less interested in them now. "She still does _way_ more public outreach stuff for Huntresses than any of us. Youth programs, school visits, press conferences. I know there's a part of her that still wants to be the role model, you know, still be _The Invincible Girl_. Maybe she's not willing to give up having a sex life for it anymore," Ruby paused, flushing red for a moment, "but she still pushes herself to be…. perfect, I guess. Or as close as possible."

"Hence why you moved into a quiet house in the middle of nowhere," said Weiss.

"I guess?" repeated Ruby, tucking her legs up onto the chair, looking all the world like the teenager Weiss had known. "Honestly, this place always feels big to me, so much space."

"Remind me to give you a tour of the new Schnee Manor," said Weiss, teasing gently.

"Yeah, sorry all our maids are off today," replied Ruby, snarkily. Weiss was glad to see that Ruby still carried a few of the speech habits she'd picked up from her partner.

"Except Pyrrha," followed-up Weiss.

Ruby blushed, evidently a little embarrassed. "It… it makes her happy, I think," said Ruby, her knees bouncing up and down. "Having a place where she can just do the little things, instead of fighting Grimm or supervillains all the time. Worry about the small problems instead of feeling overwhelmed by the big ones, you know?"

" _Hm_ ," said Weiss vaguely, a subtle prompt for Ruby to press on.

"I think she likes having a place where she can just be _normal_. I mean, you remember that was like half the reason she spent so long chasing Jaune in the first place."

"I'd always written that up as a charity endeavor, but I take your point," replied Weiss with a small grin.

"Heh, yeah. But you know what I mean. Pyrrha needs a place where she can live a normal life, Weiss. Where we don't have to act like Huntresses all the time, always being super-stoic and serious. But where we can just be a normal… _family_." Ruby fumbled over the last word, catching the way some undefined emotion flickered through Weiss.

"And I suppose the cookies she bakes you don't have anything to do with it?" asked Weiss, her tone mockingly inquisitorial.

"N-no!'" replied Ruby, curling up on herself. "Pyrrha just likes baking. Always has."

"Really?"

" _Mm-hm_ ," confirmed Ruby. "I mean," she glanced over her shoulder, making sure the door to the basement was still closed, "she was pretty terrible when she started," Ruby whispered conspiratorially. "Like, _Yang_ cooked better than that. But with a lot of gentle encouragement…"

"You are a living saint, truly Ruby Rose," replied Weiss, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

"The things we do for the Greater Good," agreed Ruby, a smile on her lips as another cookie slipped between them.

Pyrrha took that moment to reemerge, wiping her hands on her apron. She glanced over at her two former classmates, catching onto them immediately.

"And what are you two scheming about?" demanded Pyrrha, teasingly.

"Weiss was just telling me about the nice young doctor she's thinking of getting serious with," replied Ruby, glibly.

"Oh? Finally thinking of settling down, are you Weiss?"

The heiress snorted. "Yes. Because I'm sure all the boys are just _dying_ to have to go through my secretary to schedule dinner."

"Yeah, but you're rich, Weiss, that makes up for a lot," jabbed Ruby.

"Namely the deficit in the bill for _your wedding_ , if memory serves," retaliated Weiss, trying and failing to sound annoyed.

"Thanks again for that," said Ruby, the teasing tone evaporating from her voice. "Still wish you could've been there."

"Believe me, Ruby, it looked a _lot_ more fun than what I was doing," agreed Weiss, the memory of the hellish weeks still sending a shiver down her spine.

"Would you like to stay for dinner?" asked Pyrrha, breaking the silence that had fallen over the room. "I haven't started anything yet, but if you don't mind waiting-"

"Sorry, I actually really have to be going," said Weiss apologetically, casting a glance at an old clock on the shelf. A gift from Ozpin, if she was remembering it correctly. "Blake and Yang have invitations to this place downtown, and I promised I'd be the designated driver."

"Oh," said Ruby, her voice dropping ever-so-slightly. "Say hi to them for me!"

Weiss went through the motions of putting her boots on, dragging her heels but knowing this was her cue to exit stage right. Her curiosity had been sated. And while she _did_ want to spend more time with Ruby and Pyrrha, spending it outside of their house was probably a better idea. Here she was an outsider, an intruder. A _voyeur_.

"Here," said Pyrrha, returning from the kitchen with a plastic container filled with cookies. "Give these to Yang and Blake when you see them, please."

"Will do," promised Weiss, accepting the box and a brief hug.

Ruby followed Weiss out the door, Pyrrha remaining on the threshold. They strolled over to Weiss' parked car, hovering about purposelessly.

"Whatever you do," Ruby murmured, keeping her back to Pyrrha as if she was worried about her lips being read, "do _not_ give those cookies to Blake."

"Why?" asked Weiss. "Pyrrha still not that good a baker?"

Ruby shook her head, fervently. " _Too_ good," she replied, still speaking softly. "Sis gets all protective whenever Pyrrha brings Blake food. It's cute, but then Yang feels the need to cook something _even better_ for Blake." Ruby shuddered a little. "Weiss, I _care_ about Blake. Please." That pleading look in her eyes was literally impossible to turn down.

"Alright, fine, they might end up as a midnight indulgence for me," said Weiss with a wink.

They embraced. "Pyrrha really is lucky to have you," said Weiss, still clutching Ruby, pulling the younger girl towards her.

"Yeah," replied Ruby, a little self-consciously.

"And you're really lucky to have her."

Weiss loosened her grip, and Ruby rested flat on her feet again. "I know," agreed Ruby. She smiled, softly. It reminded Weiss of a smile she'd seen only once before, at an altar on the edge of a cliff.

"Take care, Weiss," said Ruby, pecking her softly on the cheek.

"I swear I'll see you a lot sooner than last time."

"Don't make a girl a promise," said Ruby with a grin, "if you know you can't keep it."

Weiss couldn't think of anything more to say, any more excuses to delay, so she slipped into the car. Ruby gave it two solid _thumps_ as Weiss hit the ignition. As she sped down the quiet street the heiress watched Ruby wave to her in the mirror, before she began making her way back to her wife.

Weiss depressed the accelerator a little more than necessary. She drove herself so infrequently these days but it still felt good to be behind the wheel, directing the machine almost unthinkingly.

 _They're good for each other_ , Weiss mused to herself. _Cute system they've got worked out, each so convinced it's what the other needs._ She snorted a little, though there was no deprecation in it. Her mind flashed back to Beacon, to those last months when the sparks between the two Huntresses had just begun to fly in earnest. What was that old song everyone was singing, something about victory and simple souls?

Weiss shook her head, dismissing the thoughts. But as her mind refocused on the street ahead of her, the striped line blurring into a solid one as she sped, her hand drifted to the passenger seat. Without conscious thought, one of Pyrrha's cookies made its way into her hand.

 _They just might be on to something_ , Weiss thought, as the taste of chocolate chip filled her mouth.

This work was originally published on AO3 on December 22, 2015. You can find all of my works there, under the handle "Liara_90". Feel free to visit me at Tumblr or reddit, where I use the handle "pvoberstein", for more information about me and my writing.


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